Impact Of Utilization Of New Technology On Performance Of OTME Students In Federal College Of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State

Abstract

 The study investigated impact of utilization of New Technology on performance of OTME students in Federal College of education (Technical)  Asaba, Delta State. To achieve the essence, the study was divided into five chapters. Four research questions were raise and answered in the study, related literature were reviewed in the study.  The study used a descriptive survey. The population comprised of fifty-seven (57) lecturers in school of Business Education in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State, sample of the study consisted of fifty seven (57) lecturers in school of business education, Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire which was validated by the supervisor and tow lecturers in school of Business Education. The method of data collection was mean statistics to answer the research questions. The findings revealed that, utilization of computer, availability of computer, level of ICT competence of OTM lecturer’s and level of ICT competence of students influence the teaching of OTM student in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.  Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that OTME Lecturers should utilized the New Technologies provided to facilitate learning in OTME students, government should supply needed ICT facilities to enhance the teaching of business studies, and government should provide a suitable programme for student to acquire ICT knowledge

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 Background to the Study

Office technology and management education (OTME) is seen as one of the core courses studied under the department of business education in any tertiary institution or universities. Business education is a component of vocational technical education programme that prepare an individual for career in business and also to be an intelligent consumer of economic goods and services. Business education provides students with the needed competencies, skills, knowledge, understanding and attitudes to perform as workers in industries, civil service and also as proprietors of business. Business education is work-focused, skill-based, result oriented and technology-based (Ugwoke, 2016).

According to the American Vocational Association (AVA) in Olaitan  (2015) business education is a programme of instruction which consists of two parts: Office Education; a vocational education programme for office careers through initial, refresher and upgrading education leading to employability and advancement in office occupation, as well as General Business Education; a programme to provide students with information and competencies which are needed by all in managing personal and business affairs and in using the services of the business world. For Business Education programmes to remain relevant in providing the needs of individuals and that of the society; they must embrace current trends (new technologies) in the academic and economic demands of the society.

Tertiary institutions, also known as higher education in Nigeria is that level of educational institution that provides education to individuals after post-primary or secondary education. Thus, tertiary business education course delivery is offered in Universities, Colleges of different disciplines, Polytechnics and monotechnics or special colleges. Some of these tertiary institutions run different curriculum in business education related courses. In the colleges of education business education is offered under the two options; accounting education and Office Technology and Management (OTM). In the polytechnic, business education is offered as Office Technology and Management (OTM). While in the universities, business education options offered however indicate the diversity of operation in different universities that offers business education (Koko, 2015).

According to (Okorie, 2014) stated that for tertiary institutions in Nigeria that offered business education programme to deliver on their mandates, the quality of the training given to individuals passing through a course or the other should be such that can give adequate skills and information needed in the real world sense. If business education should serve this purpose of providing the needs of the learners and the society, there should be continuous review in its curriculum in order to ensure that the quality of education provided is in line with societal demands. This review of the curriculum will be to integrate new technologies that can help in passing the desired and required skills to the learner to make him/her employable and as well relevant in the ever-changing business environment.

Technology, according to Nwoji (2017), could be defined as the application of the scientific method to solving problems in our daily life. Put in the perspective of business education, however, technology is the application of scientific method to solving problems regarding impartation of skills to learners to meet the changing needs and demands of the society. In business education, there existed technology in a crude form but there has been a dramatic and significant change in the methods used by Business education to address the changing needs of the society.

According to Moreno (2017), technology is a many-faceted phenomena in materials created and advanced by man to free himself from endearment by nature, but which, when undisciplined, enslaves its own creator. By this definition, technology helps to advance man’s course in his environment but moderation and control should be exercised to direct its use to solving problems of man, if not, may be misleading in itself.

The technological changes in business education are basically from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) perspective. The society generally is ICT-driven and in order to keep abreast of this change, there must be a restructuring in the knowledge and skills given to learners/students in business education. Electronic Office (e-office) is one of the phenomena of the 21st century which is a paperless office approach in which every office work is done with the use of computer. It is based on this that most Business Education departments in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions are building ICT Centres, improved computer laboratories as well as offering professional courses in computer studies to produce students/graduates that can easily adapt in their ever-changing business environment. The use of typewriter is almost going into extinct as the computer is fast taking over (Okwuanaso 2016).

New technologies in business education are designed to prepare students for a variety of careers in high-tech business offices. It is not easy to develop taxonomy of new technologies in business education because of their diversity and evolution in structures and functions (Moreno 2017). New technologies have been typologies differently by various authors. According to McLoughlin and Clark (2017), they may be classified into process and product technologies. According to Mazda’s (2014), there are core and application technologies. To Haag, Cummings and McCubbrey (2014), new technologies are grouped into four categories, namely, new technologies for all the senses, new technologies for internet explosion, new technologies for the wireless revolution, and new technologies for personal use.

No doubt, the emergence of new technologies such as the computer, word processor, the internet, automated teller machines, reprographic machines, micrographic machines, accounting machines, modern telephonic systems including handset and multimedia, among others, have not only revolutionized the office environment but have also brought changes in the ways people are doing things. The computer is one of the most visible of the new technologies (McCubbrey 2014).

Information and communication technology (ICT) refers to the whole range of technologies involved in information processing and electronic communication. It is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing, radio, television, cellular phone, computer and network hardware and software, satellite system among others. These gadgets contribute to organization, processing, communication, assessing, storing, retrieving and simplifying information when needed and in their form needed. ICT centered education covers the use of computers, online self learning packages, interactive CDs, satellites, radio, tele-presence system, optical fiber technologies and all types of information technology hardware and software (Onasanya, Shehu, Ofunlade  & Adefuye, 2011).

The objective of OTM programme include among others; equipping the students with the knowledge competencies and special skills that will enable them to successfully hold position as secretaries, managers and administrative assistants in both public and private sectors of the economy, exposing student to industrial experience thereby affording them the opportunity to practice their skills developing students’ potentials for further academic and professional pursuit, developing in the students an occupational intelligence that will make them versatile and adaptable to the changing situation in the world of work (NBTE,2006).

In a bid to attain the above objective, several strategies and resources which range from human to material including audio-visual medial communication, computer and networking material resources which are intended for effective instruction in the discipline. Effective instruction here implies availability of ICT instructional materials and utilization of the ICT instructional material on application area such as word processing, excel, desktop publishing, e-mail presentation software, video conferencing, teleconferencing, multimedia message services among others. Each of these application programme has a particular skill, knowledge and experiences that a teacher is required to impact to the learner at the course of teaching and learning. For example, at the course of teaching word processing, college of education OTM lecturers exposes the learner on how to load or open a word processor, use of input devices to enter, edit accurately, open, copy, save, paste, cut, delete, create and print documents, application of borders and shading, bullet an numbering, paragraphing, font size, font color, undo, redo, table work, etc (Okwuanaso 2016).

Excel application in office technology and management programme according to Robert (2014) features calculation, graphic tools, pivot tables. In teaching of excel application, college OTM lecturers expose the learner to practical skills on how to open excel application, create chart and tables.

Office technology and management courses are courses that an individual undertakes in order to be able to work as a secretary, office manager, computer operator and even as an administrative office. He or she will take up the responsibility of writing, receiving, recording arranging meetings, typing of correspondences and other business affairs of the society or other organization (Horny, 2015).

Accounting using Microsoft Excel application in the calculation, adding and subtraction of financial income and expenditure of any association and eventually balancing the account accurately. Data base management has to do with file management and record keeping, saving vital information, formatting, and retrieving such information rapidly when necessary in an electronic form. Hence if a teacher is able to utilize the above mentioned new technologies in facilitating the performance of office and technology management students it will be helpful to the students in feature to become useful in society in which their live and it is based on this premise that made the researcher to focused on the impact of utilization of new technology on the performance of OTME students in Federal college of education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.

Statement of Problem

Due to the various functions of office services, computer devices are becoming essential in modern organization. For this reasons, it is important to introduce computer in the teaching and training of OTM students to assist and help them to meet up with the challenges in the world of work. It is important that schools adapt to the use of computer in the teaching and learning of office technology and management skills such as desktop publishing, database management, ICT application, excel etc. science has proven that the utilization of new technology in teaching students has help increase their performance academic, but unfortunately, most schools are still having some challenges for the appropriate utilization of new technology in teaching OTME student and those challenges includes; lack necessary facilities, lack of laboratories lack of finance, lack of electricity especially in Nigeria, most teachers/lecturers are not computer literate and unavailability skillful personnel that can operate the new technologies etc. Therefore, this makes the utilization of new technologies impossible.

Based on the above statement, this research work sought to investigates the impact of utilization of new technologies on the performance of OTM Students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State, so as to draw a suitable conclusion on the assessment of computer skills and its utilization in the study of OTM.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of utilization of new technologies on the performance of OTME students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.

Specifically, the study sought to:

1. determine the utilization of computer in teaching OTM students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.
2. determine the availability of computer for the teaching and learning of OTM students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.
3. determine the level of ICT competence of OTM lecturer’s in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.
4. determine the level of ICT competence of OTM students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State.

 Research Question

The following research questions were raised to guide the study

1. To what extent does the utilization of computer influence the teaching of OTM students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State?
2. To what extent does the availability of computer influence the teaching and learning of OTM students in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State?
3. To what extent does the level of ICT competence of OTM lecturer’s affect OTM student in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State?
4. To what extent does the level of ICT competence of OT M students affect their performance in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State?

 Significance of the study

The findings of the study could be beneficial to practicing secretaries, OTM lecturers and students, College academic boards and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

This study could be relevant to practicing secretaries as the findings and recommendation of the study revealed the computer-based competencies which secretaries need for effective performance in office. This could enable secretaries who are not ICT compliant to seek retraining course so as to enable them cope with the challenges of their job.

This study could be of great benefit to Office Technology and Management lecturers and students because it could enable them to be aware of the technological development in the electronic office and the need to update their knowledge, skills and competencies in order to keep abreast of such technological development. They could also see the need to interact with each other and share information and ideas that will help them.

The findings of this study could enable college academic boards to keep abreast of the technological development in office and office education, by identifying those computer based skills that are needed by secretaries for effective work performance in modern office. This could enable them to appreciate the need to formulate policies and provide relevant ICT facilities needed to train secretaries that will meet the challenge of office technology.

National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) would benefit from this study because the technological trend in OTM functions. This will enable them to develop a well thought out curriculum and regularly review same in the light of technological trends in the office for competent training of secretaries that could fit properly into office of any organization and perform professionally the role of secretary.

Scope of the Study

This research study was limited to Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State. Based on the study it restricted to determine the impact of utilization of new technologies on the performance of OTM students, extent to which utilization of computer influence the teaching of OTM students, extent to which availability of computer influence the teaching and learning of OTM students and extent to which the level of ICT competence of OTM lecturers affect OTM students.

Pages:  73

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF               

Chapters: 1-5                                          

Source: Imsuinfo

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.